The Eyes Of The Hunter
by Realise-FrenchFries
Summary: How far will Amy go to keep her promise? In a recent Werehog attack, Sonic was turned into a monster against his will. He'd rather die than be one of them, and now Amy must abandon everything and keep the promise Sonic begged her to make. But with everything at stake, how can she kill the one she loves?
1. Chapter 1

**_This was originally a Sonic series I abandoned due to a couple of reasons. But now I have rewritten the first chapter, and I aim to complete the series. This is based in an alternative universe of Sonic Unleashed where the Werehogs are deadly and is more than one. Chip and Dark Gaia don't exist in this universe. Please enjoy. _**

**_~x~ _**

Once when I was young, I read an old book I found in the library. Each page had a different poem. One of the lines were, "_Everyone is born happy, full of heart. But what happens when it's torn apart?"_ It hadn't meant much to me at the time, after all there was a guy I really liked, I was distracted, so how could I be expected to pay attention to literature? Now, three years later, I understood the poem perfectly.

Lately my life really did seem like it was on the precipice of being a dream. There were days I thought I'd wake up and discover that the recent events in my life hadn't happened. Surely I must be a princess in an enchanted sleep. Any day now, this dream - no, nightmare - would end, and I'd get my prince and have a happily ever after.

But there was no happy ending to be found, at least not in the foreseeable future, and my prince? Well, that's a long story. My prince had been turned into a beast, a Werehog, to be specific. In my world Werehogs are a race of hedgehogs that are literally the walking dead, and if you're not already having nightmares about them, you should be. They're strong. Powerful. They have the strength of a raging brown bear and can kill you within a heartbeat. The reason why they're disgusting creatures is because they eat people. The Werehogs have taken over the human world, they hide down alleyways and wander the streets. Their behaviour is the exact same as a grey wolf.

If you ever encounter a Werehog there are two ways to die. One: you could be eaten, or two, you could become like them - forcibly or by choice - through evil means. Sonic, the guy I loved, had been made a Werehog against his will. He'd been turned during a battle, a rescue mission I was a part of. Tails, a friend of ours, had been kidnapped. He was quickly retrieved and pulled to safety outside the caves, which left Sonic and I fighting them until we quickly became outnumbered.

I remember him gripping my hand as we ran for the exit, but as we got closer, our one way ticket to freedom, my hand suddenly slipped from his. I spun round to see if Sonic was still there. Instead I watched him get dragged back through the cave, like a mouse being pulled by its tail. Screaming. I tried to go back, but someone grabbed me and yanked me in the opposite direction. I bellowed and cursed, wanting to break through their embrace and run inside the cave to rescue Sonic, but I couldn't. His time was up.

After his conversion everyone considered Sonic being dead, and up to a certain extent, he was. But not to me, because I witnessed the Werehogs pull him away, back into hell. For those who become Werehogs they lost all their goodness, their old personalities vanished and were replaced with the thoughts of blood lust and hunger. I hadn't been able to forget Sonic, besides, he was the one I adored dearly, the one I fell in love with, the only hedgehog who had the power to make me break the rules and become stronger. He was my rock, my foundation; without him, life was meaningless.

My heart refused to let him go, even if he was technically a monster, he was still out there somewhere. I also hadn't forgotten a conversation he and I had once had. We both agreed that we'd rather be dead – truly dead – then walk the world as a Werehog.

So I made a decision...

I was going to honor his wishes and kill him

Free his soul from that dark, unnatural state. I knew it was what the Sonic I had loved would have wanted. Killing Werehogs isn't easy though. They're insanely fast. They have no mercy. I'd killed a number of them already - pretty crazy for someone who was eighteen. And I knew taking on Sonic would be my greatest challenge, both physically and mentally. In fact, the emotional side had kicked in as soon as I made my decision. Going after Sonic meant doing a few life-altering things. I stayed with Tails in his apartment, and each day that was wasted, meant one more day was going by in which Sonic was still out there, living in a state he'd never wanted. I loved him too much to allow that, so I left Tails and mingled amongst the humans, abandoning one of my good friends to fight for himself.

On top of that, I discovered something strangely wrong with me too; I have dark energy running through my veins. An ancient power that's beyond anyone's control. I call them The Shadows.

Doctor Eggman kidnapped me before the Werehogs appeared. As an experiment he injected black blood into my bloodstream, and from that moment in my life, The Shadows overtook my entire body, transforming my blood from red to black, I felt it swallow me like a sucking whirlpool. With The Shadows I could do extraordinary things, such as feel emotions from other people and hear their thoughts; look through the eyes of a complete stranger and see the world from a different perspective; manipulate someone and heal myself. There was so much I could do, and at times I felt unstoppable.

After a few weeks on my own I finally made it to Central City. I was still looking, still floundering - but determined to find him, even though I dreaded it at the same time because if I really did pull this insane plan off, if I actually managed to kill the guy I love, it would mean Sonic would truly be gone from the world, and I wasn't sure I could go on in a world like that.

None of it seems real. Who knows? Maybe it isn't. Maybe it's actually happening to someone else. Maybe it's something I imagined. Maybe I'm going to wake up and find everything fixed with Sonic. We'll be together, he'll smile and hold me and tell me everything's going to be okay. Maybe all of this really has been a dream.

But I don't think so.

**XXX**

I was being followed.

It was kind of ironic, considering the way I'd been following others for the last few weeks. At least it wasn't a Werehog. I was certain of that. As an effect of my Shadow ability I could sense those creatures through uneasy sensations and nausea, that are caused by the Shadows stirring in my stomach. On the positive side, I appreciated my body's early warning system, it helped me through ambushes or sudden attacks, but right now the nausea became too much to bare, which meant whatever it was must be very close.

I had to guess my follower was a hedgehog, or some sort of animal from my world. Admittedly, this person was moving a little less stealthily then I would have expected. It's footsteps were clearly audible against the pavement of the dark side streets I was travelling on. I caught a brief glimpse of a shadowy figure. Still, considering my rash actions tonight, a hedgehog was the most likely culprit.

It all started earlier at Eclipse. That was a nightclub located down one of the streets I passed. Apparently it was well known amongst wealthy people who traveled abroad, and I can see why. No matter what time of day it was, people at Eclipse nightclub dressed like they were going to an imperial ball; to be honest, the whole place actually looked like something from the old, Victorian days. With ivory walls covered in gold scroll work and moulding, it reminded me of a palace. I remember I had toured it upon first arriving in Central City.

There were embellished chandeliers filled with real candles glittering in the air, lighting up the gold décor so that even in dim lighting, the whole establishment sparkled. There was a large dining room filled with velvet-draped tables and booths, as well as a lounge and bar area where people could mingle. Late in the evening, a band would set up in there, and couples could hit the dance floor.

I was surprised there were people in the nightclub, I expected it to be empty, though I guess some people weren't worried about the Werehogs at all. I hadn't bothered with the Eclipse nightclub when I arrived in the city a couple of weeks ago. I'd been arrogant enough to think I could find humans right away who could direct me to Station Square. Heading to the town where Sonic first met Chris Thorndyke had been my best chance of getting closer to him. Only, I didn't know where it was any more, which was why I was trying to find people to help me. So I began staking out the Eclipse nightclub, which wasn't easy. It was hard for an eighteen-year-old girl to blend into one of the city's most elite places. I'd soon found expensive clothes and large enough tips went a long way towards helping me get by. The bartender had come to know me, and if they thought my presence was strange, they didn't say so and were happy to give me the corner table I always asked for.

Crowds grew larger as the night progressed and in peering through the packed tables and people lingering at the bar, I spotted a couple walking in at 10:15 pm. I sat across the room at my table, pretending to read my book and occasionally sipping my wine. For the record, I thought wine was disgusting, but it seemed to be everywhere in Central City, particularly in the nice places. Sometimes I never finished my food at the Eclipse and would ravenously hit McDonald's afterwards, or I wouldn't eat in the club at all, because the food was costly. I only had enough money to catch a bus, and I didn't want to waste said money on expensive food, besides, McDonald's was cheap and cheerful, and more delicious than this place.

It became a test of my skill: studying humans when they weren't looking. I watched the woman leave her table to walk up to the bar. Her partner watched her go, but seemed confident about her safety and was more fixated on his food. That was when I finally made my decision, strolling casually from my table and approaching the bar, like I too was going to get a drink. I stood by as the woman waited for the bartender and studied her in my periphery. She was blond and wore a long dress covered in red and silver sequins. I couldn't decide if it made my plain black dress appear tasteful or boring. The bartender was busy helping other people, and I knew it was now or never. I leaned towards her.

"Excuse me?"

She jumped in stun and looked over at me. She was older than I expected, her age cleverly concealed by makeup. Her blue eyes assessed me quickly and I found it hard to read her expression. Though despite her carefulness I continued. "I'm looking for a place called Station Square, do you know where that is?"

"Don't," she said bluntly. "Let it go." She turned away, her gaze back on the bartender as he made someone a blue cocktail adorned with berries.

"Please," I touched her arm. "I have to find it. There's a guy..." I choked on the word. So much for my cool attitude. Just thinking about Sonic made my heart stick in my throat. How could I explain it to this woman? That I was following a long-shot clue, seeking out the guy I loved most in the world, a guy who had been turned into a Werehog and whom I now needed to kill? I couldn't perfectly picture the warmth of his broken eyes and the way his hands used to touch me. How could I ever kill him?

_Focus, Amy. Focus. _

The human woman looked back at me. "He's not worth it," she said, mistaking my meaning. No doubt she thought I was a lovesick girl chasing some boyfriend - which, I supposed, I kind of was. "You're too young...you shouldn't be doing this." Her face might have been impassive, but there was a tint of sadness in her voice. "Go do something else with your life that's worthwhile. Stay away from that place."

"You know where it is!" I exclaimed, too worked up to explain my fake reason for going there. "Please - you have to tell me. I need to get there!"

"Is there a problem?"

Both she and I turned to gaze upon the face of an angry boyfriend. Damn. The woman might not be his top priority, but he would have noticed someone harassing her. The woman's partner was older than me, and I gave him a sweet smile. I might not be showing a lot of naked skin, but I knew my dress did great things for my legs. Surely a guy wasn't immuned to that? Well, apparently he was. His hard expression showed that my charms weren't working. Still, I thought I'd try my luck on him.

"Do you know where I can find a place called Station Square?"

He blinked. "Why do you want to go there?"

"John, you can't tell her!" The woman nudged her his side, indicating that he should have kept his mouth shut, but now I was intrigued, even though it was a small piece of information, I had gotten somewhere. My face lit up with eagerness, and I knew my eyes were glittering with anticipation.

"Can you give me directions to Station Square? Please, I have to get there, it's important." The couple glanced at one another anxiously, obviously hesitant on sharing such information with a stranger. It was plainly obvious they were hiding something and I think the woman detested her boyfriend for slipping up. But no matter how much they tried to sugar coat it, I was persistent.

"Listen, I don't know what your fascination is with that place, but you must never go there," the man said in all seriousness.

Wonderful. Now both of them were being difficult. "Why not?" I asked forcefully. "You can at least tell me the reason."

Again, the couple shared a side glance, "It's populated by those things. Nobody goes there because people who have been there don't come back." He said evenly.

I kept my smile on. "Okay. If you can't give me specific directions, can you point me in the right direction instead?"

"No," replied the boyfriend. In that one word, I heard the challenge and the command. _Back off._ He looked like the type who wouldn't hesitate to take on anyone he thought was a threat to his girlfriend. I considered pushing my case further but quickly decided to follow the warning and indeed back off. I gave an unconcerned shrug. "Whatever," and with no other words I walked calmly back to my table, like the rejection had no effect on me. All the while I held my breath, half-expecting the man to drag me out of the club. Thankfully that didn't happen. Yet as I gathered my coat and set some cash on the table, I saw him watching me, wary and calculating.

I left the nightclub with that same nonchalant air, heading out toward the busy street. It was Saturday night and there were lots of other clubs and restaurants nearby. Party goers filled the streets, some dressed as richly as the Eclipse's patrons, and others were my age dressed in casual wear. Lines spilled out of the clubs, and dance music was so heavy with bass it shook the ground if you got close. As I walked through the crowds, surrounded by conversation, I resisted the urge to look behind me. I didn't want to raise any further suspicion from the policemen that were patrolling the streets.

Yet when I turned down a quiet alleyway that was a shortcut back to my hotel, I could hear the soft sounds of footsteps. I apparently had risen enough alarm to cause someone to follow me. After walking this neighbourhood for so long, I knew its twists and turns well, so I picked up my pace and darted around a few corners, one of which led to a good ambush spot where I ducked into a doorway. I quietly stepped out of my high-heeled shoes. They were black with pretty leather straps but not ideal in a fight, unless I planned on gouging someone in the eye with a heel. Actually, not a bad idea, but I wasn't that desperate.

A few moments later, I heard the footsteps and saw my pursuer's long shadow appear on the ground, cast in the flickering light of a street lamp on the road. My stalker came to a stop, no doubt searching for me. _Really,_ I thought, this person was careless. From what I've learnt about stalking, they should have moved with more stealth and not revealed themselves so easily. Maybe I was better at it than most people, because back in the day I used to hunt for Sonic whenever he ran away.

My pursuer took a few more steps, and that's when I made my move. I leapt out, fists ready. "Okay," I exclaimed. "I only wanted to ask a few questions, so back off or else -"

I froze. It wasn't the boyfriend from the club.

It was Rouge.

I recognized her instantly from the way she stood. She was no older than me, about my height, wearing a black dress that clung to her hips, outlining her curvy waistline. The top half of her dress was cut across her chest where her entire collar bone was exposed, her outfit was looked so classy and expensive it put my dress to shame. If she was at the same nightclub as me I honestly didn't notice her presence, besides, she was a bat. Bats were known to hide themselves well.

Her face was partly covered in shadow, but even in poor lighting, I could make out her annoyed expression. That wasn't quite what I'd expected. "I knew it was you, leaving a string of Werehog bodies around the city."

"I..." No other words formed on my lips. I had no idea how to respond. Rouge following me? It was unheard of, since she and I had a rocky relationship. And also the fact that she was talking casually about Werehogs, this astonished me more than actually running into one. She didn't even seem to care about my stupefied state.

"Look, Amy, do you know what a pain in the ass it is for me to deal with? This crisis is bad enough without you messing with it. The police found the body you left in the park, you know. You _cannot _do that, okay?" It was true, I had left a body in the park, but seriously, what was I supposed to do with it? Drag the Werehog back to my hotel and tell the assistant my friend had too much to drink?

"What are you doing here?" I asked at last.

"I work for the military and I'm assigned to this area. Seriously, you show know that by now."

I was slowly getting angry. I didn't like being chastised. And I certainly didn't like being chastised by _her._ There's a reason why we both never saw eye to eye, and this was it, she made it sound like me killing Werehogs was a bad thing.

"Look, I don't know what you're problem is, or how you know what I was doing, but I'm not going to stand here and-"

Nausea rolled over me and I tensed, my hands immediately balled into fists, summoning the Shadows to the surface of my skin. Rouge still wore that annoyed look, but it was mingled with confusion at the abrupt change in my posture. She was observant, I'd give her that.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"You're going to have another body to clean up," I said, just as the Werehog attacked us.


	2. Chapter 2

Going for her instead of me was bad mistake on the Werehog's part. He should have neutralized me first seeming that I'm the threat. Although, on the other hand, Rouge can take care of herself, but our positioning had put her in way, which meant she didn't have time to react. However, he had to dispatch her first before he could get to me. This Werehog was male, I could tell by the markings imprinted on his fur. The beast grabbed Rouge's shoulders, jerking her back. He was fast but I was already one step ahead.

A swift kick knocked him into a wall and freed Rouge from his grasp. It grunted on impact and slumped to the ground, stunned and surprised. It wasn't easy to get the drop on a Werehog, and I felt proud of myself for doing that. Abandoning Rouge, he focused his attention on me, red eyes angry and lips curled back to show his fangs. He sprang up from his fall with inhuman speed and lunged.

I dodged him and attempted a punch that he dodged in return. His next attack caught me on the arm, and I stumbled, just barely keeping my balance. My Shadows were still bubbling on my skin, forming pressure in my right hand, but I needed an opening to hit its chest. A smart Werehog would have angled himself in a way that ruined the line of sight to his heart. If I can stay alive long enough, I'd eventually get an opening.

Just then, Rouge appeared and kicked him on the back of the head. The blow was strong enough to startle him. And there was my opening. I sprinted hard, throwing my full weight at him. My Shadows pierced his heart as we slammed against the wall. It was as simple as that. The life - or undead life - faded from his eyes. The Werehog stopped moving completely. I jerked away once I was certain he was dead and watched as his body crumpled to the ground.

Just like with every Werehog kill, I had a momentary surreal feeling. What if this had been Sonic? I tried to imagine Sonic's face on this Werehog, tried to imagine him lying before my feet. My heart twisted in my ribs. For a split second, the image was there. Then - gone. This was just some random Werehog.

I promptly shook the disorientation off and reminded myself that I had important things to worry about. I had to check on Rouge. Even with her, my protective nature couldn't help but kick in. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, looking unfazed but otherwise unharmed. "Nice work," she said. She sounded as though she was forcing herself to sound confident. "I've never...I've never actually seen one of them get killed."

I couldn't imagine how she would have, but then, I didn't get how she knew about any of this stuff in the first place. I moved my head to the side, gesturing towards the busy high street. "Come on, let's get out to where there's more people." Werehog's lurking near the Eclipse nightclub wasn't that uncommon. What better place to stalk humans than at one of their hangouts? The suggestion for departure snapped Rouge out of her thinking. "What?" she exclaimed. "You're just going to leave him too?"

I threw up my hands. "What do you expect me to do? Stuff him in the bin? I guess I can move him behind those trash cans and leave him to rot. That's what I usually do."

Rouge shook her head in disapproval, "right. And what if someone shows up to take out the trash?"

"Well that's not my problem then, is it?"

The bat sighed before walking over to the body. She made a face as she looked down at the Werehog before reaching into her large leather purse. From it, she produced a small capsule. With a deft motion, she tipped the object and sprinkled some sort of dust over the body, then she quickly stepped back.

Where the drops had hit the corpse, yellow smoke began to curl away. The smoke slowly moved outward, spreading horizontally rather than vertically until it cocooned the Werehog entirely. Then it contracted so much to the point where there was nothing but a fist-size ball. In a few seconds, the smoke drifted off entirely, leaving a pile of ash behind.

"You're welcome," said Rouge flatly, still giving me a disapproving look.

"What the hell was that?" I exclaimed.

"My job. Can you please call me the next time this happens?" She started to turn away.

"Wait! I can't call you - I mean, I've got no way of contacting you."

She glanced back at me and brushed back one of her extremely long eyelashes. "I'm not going just yet. Besides, we need to talk."

As we returned to the busy streets and walked toward a cafe she liked, it occurred to me that if she knew about the Werehogs, there might be a chance she also knew where Station Square was. The place where Sonic might be.

Sonic. There he was again, popping up out of nowhere. I had no clue if he really would be lurking at Station Square, but I had nothing else to go on at this point. Again, that weird feeling came over me. My mind blurred Sonic's face with that of the Werehog I'd just killed: overgrown fur, red ringed eyes...

_iNo,/i _I sternly told myself. Don't focus on that. The restaurant was bright and dazzling, though not as fashionable as Eclipse. We slid into some black leather chairs, and I was delighted to see the menu had much tastier food. I nearly drooled when I saw fried chicken. I was starving after not eating at the club, and the thought of deep-fried meat was luxurious after weeks of eating cabbage dishes and so-called McDonald's.

A waitress arrived, and we ordered. After that Rouge remained silent, simply playing with her napkin and avoiding eye contact. She was full of surprises. Considering her harsh attitude, I expected her to question me right away, but what I really wanted to know was how she disposed of that Werehog's body. Whatever she used, I surely needed some of the same stuff - but doubt that she'd give it to me. Her outrage earlier wasn't fake, and she'd been adamant about me following her to this place.

"So, are you ready to tell me why you're really here and what's going on?"

Rouge looked up. Now that we were in brighter light, I could see her topaz eyes. I also noticed that she had an interesting tattoo on her right breast. The ink looked gold, the type of color that blended into the skin. I'd never seen it before. It was an elaborate design of flowers and leaves and was only really visible when she moved her chest in a certain way so that the gold caught the light.

"I'm not apart of the military, that was lie. I'm apart of a top secret organization that protects humanity from the Werehogs. My job is cleaning up the bodies."

I raised an eyebrow. "An organization that deals with Werehogs? How come we've never heard of you before?"

"Hences why its 'top secret' dumbass. When the war between the two races began, the Government couldn't cope with the amount of people dying, and soon the number of Werehogs multiplied. The military alone wasn't enough to save everyone, so the Government formed a group of people who had abilities. Funny enough, they've called us the Freedom Fighters."

I blinked, puzzled. "So basically, they've recreated the Freedom Fighters from our world?" The Freedom Fighters were originally a group dedicated to oppose and overthrow Dr. Eggman, and they protected the citizens of Mobius from all other types of threats. Over time, the stronger they grew, the Freedom Fighters started sharing their hospitality to other places, and they soon became well known. I watched Rouge rest her right elbow on the armrest of her chair, then propped her chin up with her hand, eyes staring down at the table again. She swallowed, like she was bracing herself for something, and then a rush of words came out, "that's pretty much how it is, yeah. The only difference with us is that we can't display ourselves to the public, because the organization will surely drown just like the military did when people found out about the Werehogs. Our aim is to help people as discreetly as possible so that the Werehogs don't suspect a thing, they're easier to kill if you catch them off guard."

I nodded slowly, then my attention was drawn to her tattooed breast. "What's that?"

She gently stroked it with her fingertips and didn't bother hiding the sarcasm from her voice when she spoke. "My prize. It's actually gold and..." she grimaced and dropped her hand, "Werehog blood, combined with water and soil."

"What?" My jaw dropped as my voice came out louder than expected, some people in the restaurant turned to look at me. Rouge continued speaking, her tone much lower and very bitter.

"I'm not thrilled about it either, but it's our "symbol" for helping the human race. The water moisturizes the skin so that the tattoo can stick, the soil is an overcoat. And as for the Werehog blood, that disguises our smell with the smell of a Werehog, so that if we ever encounter one they won't attack us, because we smell like them. It's like a perfume. I get sick just thinking about how the tattoos are made."

My head was whizzing. I had never, never considered anything like this. A tattoo made of blood? _iWerehog's blood?!/i _It was unheard of, let alone unthinkable. What was the Government even thinking when they scolded Rouge's skin with that? Did that mean every Freedom Fighter had a golden tattoo? Pushing aside my wild thoughts, I presumed the tattoo was a way of recognizing each other, kind of like picking out a wolf in sheep's clothing, they could easily be spotted.

This probably wasn't an idea I should have suggested, but my nature couldn't help it. "If the tattoo protects you from Werehogs why not give it to the humans?"

"Because it was designed to stick onto _iour/i_ skin. Since you and I are a different species from humans, the Werehog's are just like us, which means their blood doesn't affect our skin. If you printed this tattoo on a human, the Werehog blood would incinerate their skin instantly."

"Wait a minute," I moved to the edge of my chair as the hard realization hit me. A tattoo - a charm, that didn't us but affected the humans...this only left me with one conclusion to who the Freedom Fighters really were. "What you're trying to say is that there are no humans in the Freedom Fighters?"

Rouge dropped her head again, staring at the wooden table for the third time tonight. "Yes. The tattoos were tested on human subjects and all the results were the same; they burnt to death the long they had the tattoo. Then they tested it on me, and nothing happened."

"So who is apart of the Freedom Fighters?"

Rouge didn't respond.

"Just tell me," I snapped.

Her facial expression remained blank. "I can't. If I could, I would. But I really can't, besides, I've told you too much already."

The food arrived just then, and the fried chicken was almost enough to distract me from the outrage of being kept in the dark. Mostly all it did was delay me from responding immediately to her claims, and I bit into the golden crust and nearly melted then and there. Rouge had ordered a cheeseburger and chips and nibbled her food delicately.

After taking down an entire chicken leg, I was finally able to resume the conversation. "Knowing you, Rouge, that wasn't the topic you wanted to talk about."

"Indeed," she said, playing with her chips but not actually eating them. "Unfortunately you know me too well."

"So what is it?" I pressed on, wishing she'd stop beating about the bush.

She finished toying with a fry and dropped it back on her plate. "I know what you're doing. What you've set out to do, why your killing random Werehogs in the city...it's because your trying to find him, aren't you?"

I chewed on a chicken wing to restrain myself from speaking out of term. To be honest, I shouldn't be surprised by her. Especially to the fact that she figured out what I was trying to do. I knew it wasn't possible to always move through the world invisibly, and yes, I could admit, I was partly being selfish during my killing spree through Central City. I felt so desperate to find Sonic because I wanted this mission of mine to be over and done with, I wanted to end this nightmare quicker. And I was blinded by the idea that if I killed every Werehog I saw, at some point I'll rid them all until he was the only one left...but I know I shouldn't have done that. I've just been wasting time.

"That's none of your business," I muffled with my mouth full of chicken. Though despite my not-so-fierce warning, Rouge continued her say without taking a pause to absorb my words.

"It's actually my job to stop whatever you're going to do when you find Sonic. But, considering that I've told you too much information about the organization, I'll make a deal with you."

I froze mid-chew, remembering my earlier thoughts when I'd first come along with Rouge. I forced myself to swallow and then took a long drink of water. "You know how to get to Station Square don't you?"

She didn't answer right away, but her eyes betrayed her. "Maybe."

"You do!" I exclaimed. "You have to tell me where it is."

"I'll tell you...but only on one condition."

I blinked, slightly cautious but patiently waiting for the bat to elaborate on her one condition. Holy crap. This was actually happening, after all these weeks of searching. Rouge was going to tell me where Station Square was, and I could go and try to close this horrible chapter in my life.

Rouge snatched a chip from her plate and slipped it between her teeth. "If I tell you where Station Square is, I'm coming with you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, I'm not dead after all! **

**Okay, so first things first I apologise for the delay of this chapter. This series is certainly not dead, though I must admit, I forgot about it for a while and I had no motivation to come back to it until yesterday when I listened to the soundtrack of **_**Tokyo Ghoul **_**and the music inspired me to write. So as a way to make it up to you I'll write and post two more chapters of this as quickly as I can to keep you satisfied. **

**Please enjoy! And don't forget to like, comment, and follow me if you enjoy my stories.**

**~x~**

"What?"

This wasn't part of the plan. This wasn't in the plan at all. I was trying to move through the human world as invisibly as possible. Plus, I didn't really relish the thought of having a tagalong. I didn't know how long it would take to get to Station Square - maybe a couple of days, I thought. And I couldn't imagine spending those few days listening to Rouge telling me what a reckless, evil being I was.

Swallowing my outrage, I attempted reason. After all, I was asking a favor here. "That's not necessary," I said, forcing a smile. "It's nice of you to offer, but I don't want to put you through more trouble."

"You're trying to convince me, and it's not going to work," the bat replied dryly, sitting back in her chair. She tossed one leg over the over casually, "if you won't let me come along, I won't tell you how to get to Station Square. If you want to get there so badly, this is the only way."

It was the only way I could get there if I used Rouge for information. I could always go back to staking out the Eclipse... but it had taken me this long to get a lead from there. Meanwhile, she was here right in front of me with the information I needed.

"Why do you have to tag along?" I asked her.

"My reasons are confidential."

I eyed her, trying to figure out what was going on here. Why on earth would anyone care where a teenage girl went? I didn't think Rouge had any motives-unless she was a very, very good actress. Yet, at the same time, I was anxious to get on with this. Each day that passed was another in which I didn't find Sonic.

"How soon can we leave?" I asked at last. Rouge showed no real skill in tracking me earlier. So surely it wouldn't be that hard to ditch her once we were near Station Square.

She looked kind of disappointed at my response, almost as though she'd hoped I would decline and then she'd be off the hook. I presumed she didn't want to come with me but was forced to do it by someone with a higher authority. Opening her purse, she pulled out a touch-screen phone, tapped the screen for a few minutes, and finally produced some train times. She showed me the schedule for the next day.

"Does that work for you?"

I studied the screen and nodded. "I can be there."

"Okay." Rouge stood up and tossed some cash on the table. "I'll see you tomorrow." She started to walk away and then glanced back at me. "Oh, and you can have the rest of my fries."

Our train left late in the morning, and then we were scheduled to catch another train which would lead us directly to Station Square. I wanted to rest and be ready for it all. Once in my pajamas, I snuggled under the bed's heavy comforter and hoped sleep would come soon. Instead, my mind spun with all the things that had happened recently. The situation with Rouge was a bizarre twist but one I could handle. What she'd said about our travel time, it would indeed take a couple of days to reach the city. Two days seemed both impossibly long and short all at the same time.

It meant I could very well be confronting Sonic in a few days...and then what? Could I do it? Could I bring myself to kill him? And even if I decided I could, would I actually have the skill to overpower him? The same questions that I'd been asking myself for the last two weeks kept plaguing me over and over. Sonic had taught me everything I knew, and with enhanced Werehog reflexes, he would truly be a god. Death was a very real possibility for me.

**~x~**

At any other time in my life, I would have loved coming back to Station Square. Rouge had planned our trip so that when our train arrived there, we'd have a few hours before we had to board the train. So this gave us some time to wander around and grab dinner, though she wanted to make sure we were safely inside the station before it grew too dark outside. Rouge didn't want to take any chances.

We had first-class train accommodations during the train ride, which turned out to be a lot smaller than I expected. There was a combination of beds and sitting benches on each side, a window, and a TV high on the wall. I supposed that would help pass the time, but I often had trouble following television due to my constant strategy thinking about what to do next. Still, Rouge and I would each have our own space, even if the room was cozier than we would've liked.

The colors reminded me a lot of the fanciful patterns I'd seen in Eclipse Nightclub. Even the hall outside our cabin was brightly colored, with peachy carpet in red and yellow designs, with a blood-orange set of curtains drapping down every window that matched the cushions covering our beds. It was made to look like a thick heavy fabric embossed with a silky pattern, but it was actually rather light when I stroked it. Between all that and the ornate table in the middle of the cabin, it was almost like traveling in a mini-palace.

It was dark out by the time the train left the station. For whatever reason, the trains in Central City always departed at night. It wasn't that late yet, but Rouge said she wanted to sleep, and I didn't want to make her more irritated than she already was. So we turned off all the lights, save for a tiny reading lamp by my bed. I'd bought a magazine at the train station, and even if I couldn't concentrate on the words, the pictures kept me occupied. I flipped through the pages as quietly as I could, admiring summer tops and dresses and wondering when - if ever - I'd be able to start worrying about that kind of thing again.

I wasn't tired when I lay down, but sleep took me nonetheless. I was dreaming about the beach when suddenly, the waves and sand that my subconscious built dissolved into a dark street someplace I've never seen before. The concrete was damp caused by a small shower of rain, but there was a calmness that permeated the place.

Then an irritating sense of discomfort tickling the back of my head, almost urging me to wake up. I soon noticed something dart amongst the eeriness. I could've sworn I stopped breathing. Shadows within shadows circled the perimeter, shape shifting into clearer images as far as my eyes could see, as if I was actually there, but I wasn't.

I was inside someone's mind.

The shadows often pulled me into active minds when mine was temporarily unconscious, this used to happen on a regular basis until I figured out a method to slow it down. I don't know whose mind I was in, it was often picked out at random - a human. I was in a human's mind, witnessing the world through their eyes like watching a movie. I could hear noises which lay on my skin like a poison. A chorus of gleeful cries and witch-like cackling, came from around the corner where the human stood.

Since I was inside someone's mind I had no control over their actions, I was only allowed to witness things. There was a thirteen second gap between them and the corner, I know this because I hear them counting their steps. _One. two. three. four. five. six. seven. eight. nine. ten. eleven. twelve. thirteen. _

I feel tension release from their shoulders, though their eyes still dance in every corner. They whisper the numbers and the sound of their own voice brings them comfort as I'm sure a prayer would comfort someone who believes in God. It's incredible how loud a simple whisper can sound in the eerie darkness. Surrounded by white silence, the sound of their heartbeat throbbed in my ears, I can almost block out the screaming, the horrific mourning. And there comes the silence all of a sudden without warning, which is so much worse.

In the quiet, which falls like a penny drop, I heard the human's labored breathing getting louder, and louder. Nothing happened. Five more steps. I watched hopeless until the human rounded the corner, to their horror - and mine - I saw a band of Werehogs brawling over another human; They're food. And it was obvious that they were dead by the way they were being rolled like a football. But amongst the crowd I noticed one of them...one of them...

It can't be him. But unfortunately I knew the cold truth that it was him.

At the sight of another human appearing out of nowhere, Werehogs began tittering, softly at first. But it was Sonic who rose, a mass of tangled limbs, each one armour plated with a paralyzing goo seeping from black pores. There was blood streaming down his chin, smeared around his mouth like lipstick, it looked unnatural.

A string of curses unraveled from his tongue, like yarn unfurling, as he advanced. His bony paw reached out, his laugh, a cruel, cold cackle that froze both the human - and me - on the spot. Draining all hope, dreams and feeling from within, replacing them with despair, hopelessness and most of all, fear. The human I was inside of tried to run, however his claws cut through the human's body, and they fell, choking, desperately trying to rid themselves of all this. I could see black mist swirling at the edges of their vision, feel their injury throbbing.

Their emotions shifted into something beyond fear, something that hardly felt anything at all. They were in shock. Numbed. And with a cold, hard certainty, they knew that their death was coming and accepted it. The surreal sensation went no further because Sonic came to an abrupt halt and turned toward the human.

They gasped at the unexpected movement. Swiftly approaching them, he knelt down before them and peered into their tear-streaked eyes. They trembled. The emerald rings around his pupils were the only indication I had that told me this was him, because Werehog's had red eyes whereas Sonic was the only one who had green eyes. Somehow during his change he managed to keep his original eye color, which was a miracle in itself.

Sonic's hand snaked out and gripped the human's neck, tilting their face up so he could get an even better look into their eyes. His fingers dug into their skin, but not enough to draw blood or give any bruises.

"I know she'll come for me because she's always watching me," said Sonic out loud. "Aren't you, Amy?" Loosening his hold a little, he ran his fingertips over the skin of the human's throat, so gently...

It was like he was looking into _my_ eyes at that moment. My soul. I even felt like he was stroking _my_ neck. I knew it was impossible. The bond worked between myself and the people who I manipulate. No one else could see it. Yet, just then, I realised that Sonic knew about my unnatural powers. And it was like no one else existed but him and me. As if there was no human between us.

"You're in there, Amy." A pitiless half smile played over his mouth. "Just because you have fancy powers doesn't mean you can hide from me. You also aren't foolish enough to be in a place where I can find you. But don't worry, once you're outside Central City, I'll find you. There is no place in this world where you can hide from me. I'm watching you too."

And then the screaming starts again, this time slicing me. It takes me a second to realise that it's not the human screaming, it's me, in my sleep, loud and long in all my fear and fury.

I jerked out of the human's head, unable to stare into those eyes - and see them staring back at me. Whether it was my own fear or a mirroring of the human's, I discovered my body was trembling. My cheeks were drenched in tears, I tried to calm myself down but the fear Sonic's words inspired kept me hysterical.

My cries had awoken Rouge because she bolted upright in the small bed beside me, her dark green gaze studied me, her face drawn with concern. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head, unable to look directly at her. "A nightmare," I murmured. "My worst nightmare coming true."


	4. Chapter 4

After I calmed down I told Rouge about what I sore, starting with a description of my surroundings which seemed like an alleyway, I went on telling her about the Werehogs eating a human. There was roughly twelve of them, I wasn't sure due to how hazy the memory was now. But what frightened me the most was Sonic and the fact that he knew I possessed the shadows - how he discovered this information, I really don't know. I haven't been watching him as much as I should have. But whoever told him must know me. Tails was the only one who knew about my powers, however I left him behind in his apartment. I told him to go to Prison Island, so that he'd be safe behind the wards.

When the Werehogs appeared in the human world, everywhere from Emerald Coast to the White House was announced unsafe. Just being on land in general was dangerous, but great hunting grounds for Werehogs, because their prey was out in the open. So as a method to avoid any more deaths, the president had the military move the remaining citizens of humanity onto Prison Island. It was the perfect hiding spot, considering the fact that the island was surrounded by the ocean, but as an extra precaution, the military built the wards, which were invisible fifty-feet walls surrounding the entire island, generated by electricity. So if anyone from the outside got close to the wards they'd get electrocuted and possibly die from the shock.

No living thing could withstand the amount of power those walls provoked, and on top of that there was the ocean in between. So Prison Island was the perfect place for people to live away from the Werehogs, I gave Tails a map destined to go there, out of fear that Sonic would find him. Even though Tails and Sonic were best friends in the past, I couldn't imagine what would happen between them now, being in the state Sonic was in. I couldn't trust Tails living on his own anymore.

And now Rouge was the second person who knew. I had to explain to her why I could see the world through the eyes of a complete stranger, her stoned face told me that she wasn't fascinated nor stunned by any of it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew, being apart of a secret group there was probably a file in her office that had my details on it. But, if she was moved in any way by my story, she was very good at not showing it.

I returned to bed and fell asleep surprisingly fast, despite worrying about Rouge being slightly grouchy with me. Yet, when I woke in the morning, she was curled up on her bed, fast asleep. I got up quietly and changed out of the t-shirt and sweatpants I'd gone to bed in. I was hungry for breakfast and figured Rouge might sleep longer if I wasn't around.

The restaurant was in the next train car and looked like something out of an old movie. Elegant burgundy linens draped the tables, and brass and dark wood, along with bits of bright-colored stained glass art, gave the whole place an antique feel. It looked more like a restaurant I'd find on the streets of Central City than on a train. I ordered something that reminded me vaguely of french toast, except that it had cheese on it. It came with a sausage, which thus far seemed to be the same everywhere I went.

I was just about finished with my meal when Rouge wandered in. When I'd met her that first night, I'd assumed her dress and blouse had been for the sake of the Eclipse. I was discovering, however, that that was her normal style. She struck me as one of those people who didn't own jeans or t-shirts. She looked unkempt last night when I woke her up, but now she was in neat black slacks and a dark green sweater. I was in jeans and a long-sleeved gray shirt and felt kind of sloppy beside her. Her hair was brushed and styled but had a slightly messy look that I suspected never went away. At least I had my long, straight quills going for me today.

She slid across from me and ordered an omelet.

"Did you sleep alright?" I asked her. The bat turned her attention toward me and smiled. Almost.

"Just fine, thanks," she shrugged. "In fact, better than the last job I did."

"You must not get a lot of sleep on this job," I mused, pondering on what it must mean to be part of a secret group that crossed international lines and interacted with all sorts of governments. Something else crossed my mind. "And what about that stuff you used on the Werehog? That disintegrated the body?"

"Well, I told you the Freedom Fighters started off as a group of people trying to make potions, right? That's a chemical we developed to get rid of Werehog bodies fast."

"Could you use it to actually kill one?" I asked. Dousing a Werehog in some dissolving liquid would be a lot easier than the usual ways: decapitation, stabbing, or burning.

"Afraid not. Only works on corpses."

"Bummer." I wondered if she had other potions up her sleeve but figured I should decrease my amount of Rouge questions for the day. "What are we going to do when we get to Westopolis?"

"Westopolis," she pondered. "We'll walk the rest of the way, it won't take long."

"Have you been there? To this city?"

She nodded. "Once."

"What's it like?" I asked, surprised to hear a wistful note in my own voice. Aside from my quest to find Sonic, there was a piece of me that just wanted to cling to everything I could of him. I wanted to know everything about him that I hadn't known before. If I had found his possessions, I would have slept with them each night. He never had a room, unfortunately. Now I could only gather what pieces of him I could, as though hoarding these bits of information would keep him with me somehow.

"It's like any other city, I guess."

"I've never been there."

The waiter set Rouge's omelet down, and she paused with her fork in the air. "Really? I thought you would've... well. Gone with him."

I shook my head. "Sonic wouldn't let me. He said it was overrun by Black Aliens at the time, and he needed to help G.U.N take them out."

She chewed thoughtfully. I was willing to eat her omelet if she wouldn't finish it. From what I'd seen that first night and while waiting for the train yesterday, she hardly seemed to eat anything. It was like she subsisted on air alone. Maybe she was one of those girls who worried about their weight. Most likely it was just a habit.

"The city isn't populated by Werehogs, in fact, they rarely go there because of the lack of food. Occasionally you'd find the odd one here or there. But the majority of the city is underground so that the Werehogs are completely oblivious to it."

I'd always figured that Westopolis did some major changes when the Werehog invasion occurred. However I was interested in what the culture was like. "And?" I asked. "What's the culture like?"

She set her fork down. "Let's just say you'd better brace yourself."

_**~x~**_

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully. Rouge napped throughout the day, and I began to think she was just an insomniac with bizarre sleep patterns. She also continued her equally odd treatment of food, hardly touching her meals. She always let me have the leftovers and was a bit more adventurous with what she drank. Actually, she drank more than she ate.

On the third day of our trip, we arrived in Westopolis. Westopolis was a large city but not as big as Central City. Sonic had always teased me about my images of Westopolis looking like Station Square were wrong, and I could tell that he was right. This city was much bleaker from what I remember of Station Square, when we stepped off the train it was like we'd just walked into a ghost town. Above ground street lights were twisted, their remains of steel and glass scattered on the floor. The concrete was crumbling and as far as the eye could see there were no lights turned on. I was surprised that the train station was still running.

Rouge told me when we got here, she'd get us a place to stay with the military, but to do that we had to go underground and head towards the actual city. Apparently the road above ground was dangerous. Werehogs often hung out near it at night, hoping to catch a traveller. The more Rouge explained it, the more worried I became about my plan. According to her, Werehog's lurked in the city's periphery, but few lived there permanently. If that was the case, then my chances of finding Sonic had dropped. Things got worse as Rouge continued describing the situation.

"A lot of Werehogs travel the country looking for victims, Westopolis was a city they always passed," she explained. "And because of this they found easy prey, until the military moved the entire city underground, taking the citizens with it. There should be a entrance a few feet ahead of here that leads into the underground."

"So Werehogs often hide in large cities?" I asked uneasily.

"They do. It's easier for them to take victims without being noticed."

Yes, this definitely threw a wrench into my plans. If Sonic wasn't residing in this town, I was going to have some serious problems. I'd always known that Werehogs liked big cities, but somehow, I'd convinced myself that Sonic would return to the place where he met Chris Thorndyke. But if Sonic wasn't there... well, suddenly, the enormity of my plan hit me. I'd learned that Westopolis wasn't even the biggest city in the region, and finding even one Werehog here could be hard. I realized that things could get extremely ugly if my hunch proved wrong.

Since setting out to find Sonic, I'd occasionally have weak moments where I half-hoped that I'd never find him. The idea of him as a Werehog still tormented me. I was also visited by other images of the way he used to be and the memories of the time we'd spent together.

I think my most precious memory was of just before he was turned. It was one of those times when I felt insignificant to my friends, a time when I lost control during a fight on Eggman's ship. I was emotionally unstable. Unable to get a grip. I was afraid of becoming something horrible, afraid of seeing my friends get hurt or possibly dying.

Sonic had brought me back to myself, lending me his strength. I'd realized then just how strong our connection was, how perfectly we understood each other. I'd been skeptical about people being soul mates in the past, but at that moment, I knew it was true. And with that emotional connection had come a physical one. Sonic and I had finally given in to the attraction. We'd sworn we never would, but... well, our feelings were just too strong. Staying away from each other had turned out to be impossible. We'd kissed, and it was my first time ever. Sometimes I felt certain that it would be my only time.

Afterward, we'd remained trapped in each other's embrace for as long as we dared, and that had been amazing too. It had been one of the few moments where I'd felt he was truly mine.

"Do you remember the charm you gave me? The one that would protect me from water." Sonic had asked, snuggling closer against me.

I looked at him like he was crazy. "Of course."

On Emerald Beach I eavesdropped on a woman giving her partner something special, an accessory made of pink seashells, she said the gift would protect him and bring him happiness. Being clueless and so lovestruck then, I prepared the same thing for Sonic. Then I presented the gift to him, but at the last minute we were disrupted by Eggman accompanied by a new robot. The bracelet was smashed. And at first I was devastated, gathering the pieces with tears in my eyes. However my sadness quickly dissipated into fury, and I destroyed Eggman's robot, then I dragged the doctor himself into the deepest depths of the ocean.

From that point on my memory was a blur, but I did remember drowning.

"I didn't realize it would actually work," Sonic had told me. He seemed a little shy talking about it, although when he lifted his left hand up to my face, my eyes expanded in awe, because dangling from his wrist was that same bracelet I made from a long time ago, except it looked old. The string that attached the seashells together had knots between them.

"You kept it?" I asked, surprised. "I thought... I don't know. I thought you lost it. I thought you threw it away."

Sonic laughed and kissed my forehead. "Amy, how could I forget the day I fell in love with you? I stayed awake so many nights, replaying every detail. I told myself over and over that it was wrong, but you're impossible to forget." His lips moved to my neck, and his hand stroked my hip. "You're burned into my mind forever. There is nothing, nothing in this world that will ever change that."

And it was memories like that that made it so hard to comprehend this quest to kill him, even if he was a Werehog. Yet... at the same time, it was because of memories like that I had to destroy him. I needed to remember him as the hedgehog who'd loved me and held me for hours. I needed to remember that hedgehog would not want to stay as a monster.

I didn't know how long I'd been daydreaming, but Rouge stopped in front of me and I almost crashed into the back of her. She knelt down on the ground and removed the lid of a sewage drain. It soon clicked in my head that that was the route we were taking to the underground city.

"We're going down there?" I exclaimed, pointing a finger. Sewages were never my favorite places to hide.

The bat gave me a weird, scornful look. "Unless you want to stay up here and die, be my guest. But unfortunately I can't let you do that because your my responsibility now." With a bit of effort on her part Rouge wedged the metal lid out of place, down the small hole was a long ladder leading into much deeper darkness. "You first," she said.

"Harsh." I mumbled before dropping onto my hands and knees, I crawled down the hole, gently placing my boots on the ladder, which apparently wasn't as long as it looked. Then Rouge followed closing the lid on her way down.

At the bottom was a small Military base that was camouflaged by the shadows of a town. In fact, "town" was a total exaggeration. There were scattered houses everywhere, a food store, and an old church. Polytunnels stretched beyond the buildings, and I saw more animals than people. Within the heart of it all was where the military camped, and that was where Rouge was taking me, walking through the most busiest part of Westopolis, which was reduced from the size of a city into a tiny town.

The few citizens who were out stared at us in amazement. Rouge was right. I needed to emotionally brace myself in order to cope with the sight I saw before me.

"Are these friends of yours?" I muttered nervously feeling a little self-conscious about people watching us. Rouge got the hint that I was referring to the military as her friends.

"Nope. Never met them. But they're expecting us."

More mysterious connections. The door was answered by a friendly looking human in his twenties who urged us to come inside, he spoke in hush tones but his voice carried a high authority nevertheless. As proof of identification, Rouge removed her jacket and pulled down her top to show her gold emblem engraved on her breast. The human granted us access immediately.

You wouldn't think riding in a train all day would be tiring, but I felt exhausted and was anxious to get an early start in the morning. So after dinner, Rouge and I went to the room that had been prepared for us. It was small and plain but had two twin beds covered in thin, white blankets. I snuggled into mine, grateful for the softness it provided, and wondered if I'd dream of Sonic once again.

I didn't. I did, however, wake up to a slight wave of nausea rolling through me - the nausea that told me there was a Werehog nearby.


	5. Chapter 5

I bolted upright, every part of me awake and alert. There were no lights shining through the window, and it took me several seconds to make out anything in the darkened room. Rouge was curled up in her own bed, her face unusually at peace as she slept.

Where was the Werehog? Definitely not in our room. Was it in the building? No. I was told Werehogs didn't know about the underground. Everyone had said the road to Westopolis was dangerous. Still, I would've thought Werehogs would be going after travellers above ground. Thinking of the nice people who'd welcomed us into their city, I felt something tight clench in my chest. No way would I let anything happen to them.

Slipping out of the bed, I summoned the Shadows within my palms and crept from the room without disturbing Rouge. No one else was awake, and as soon as I was in the mess hall, the nausea went away. Okay. The Werehog wasn't inside, which was a good thing. It was outdoors, apparently on the side of the building near my room. Still moving silently, I moved further away from the military camp and walked around the corner, as quiet as the night around me.

The nausea grew stronger as I approached the church, and I couldn't help but feel smug. I was going to surprise this Werehog who'd thought it could sneak into a tiny human village for dinner. There. Right near the church's entrance, I could see a long shadow moving. _Gotcha,_ I thought. I readied the Shadows and started to spring forward-and then something struck me on the shoulder.

I stumbled, astonished, and locked gazes with a Werehog. Within the corner of my vision, I saw the shadow by a gravestone materialize into another Werehog striding forward. Panic shot through me. There were two, and my secret sixth sense hadn't been able to tell the difference. Worse, they'd gotten the drop on me.

A thought immediately flashed into my mind: What if one of them was Sonic?

It wasn't. At least, this close one wasn't. I think it was female. Hell they all looked the same, it's kind of hard to tell. I had yet to get a feel for the second one which was approaching from my other side, moving fast. I had to deal with this immediate threat, though, and swiped at the female, hoping to wound her, but she dodged so quickly, I hardly saw her move. She struck out toward me in an almost casual way. I wasn't fast enough to react and went flying toward the other Werehog-a male who was not Sonic.

I responded quickly, leaping up and kicking him. The Shadows erupted from my hands, creating distance between us, but it did little good when the female came up from behind and grabbed me, jerking my body against hers. I gave a muffled cry and felt her claws on my throat. She was probably going to break my neck, I realized. It was a fast, easy technique for Werehogs to do that then allowed them drag off a victim for feeding.

I struggled, jostling her hands slightly, but as the other Werehog leaned over us, I knew it was useless. They'd surprised me. There were two of them.

They were strong.

Panic surged in me again, an overwhelming sense of fear and desperation. I was afraid every time I fought Werehogs, but this fear was reaching beyond breaking point. It was unfocused and out of control, and I suspected it was touched by a bit of the madness and darkness I'd absorbed from the Shadows.

That was the price, I learnt, for possessing a dark power, that you had to dispose bits of your humanity every time you used it, which was kind of ironic. You had to become a monster in order to defeat the monster.

The feelings exploded within me, and I wondered if they'd destroy me before the Werehog did. I was in very real danger of dying here-of letting Rouge and the others get killed. The rage and distress of that thought were smothering.

Then, suddenly, it was like the earth burst open. Translucent forms, glowing softly in the darkness, sprang up everywhere. Some looked like normal people. Others were horrible, their faces gaunt and skull-like. Ghosts. Spirits. They surrounded us, their presence making my hair stand on end and sending a splitting headache through my skull.

The ghosts turned toward me. I remembered this happening before, within Eggman's lair, when he gave me this ability, shapes of shadows had swarmed and threatened to consume me. I braced myself, trying desperately to summon up the strength to build barriers that would shut me off from the darkness. It was a skill I'd had to learn, one I usually kept in place without any effort. The turn of events in this situation had cracked my control.

In that horrible, blood-curdling moment I realized I wasn't their target.

The ghosts were mobbing the two Werehogs. They didn't have solid forms considering the fact that they were made up from shadows, but every place they touched felt like ice. The female Werehog immediately began waving her arms to fend the apparitions off, snarling in rage and something almost like fear. The ghosts didn't appear to hurt the Werehog, but they were apparently pretty annoying.

I stabbed the male Werehog before he ever saw me coming. Immediately, the ghosts around him moved to the female. She was good, I'd give her that. Despite struggling to fend the spirits off, she was still able to dodge my attacks fairly well. A lucky punch from her made stars burst before my eyes and sent me into the church wall. I still had that ghost-induced splitting headache, and my head slamming into the wall didn't help. Staggering up, dizzy, I made my way back and continued my efforts to get a shot in at her heart. She managed to keep her chest out of my range-until one particularly ghost caught her off guard. Her momentary distraction gave me my chance, and I molded the Shadows into knife and stabbed her, too. She fell to the ground, leaving me alone with the spirits.

They weren't exactly spirits as such, in life threatening situations the Shadows took on forms of people that I have killed. It was like a defense mechanism that gave me bone crushing headaches. With the Werehogs, the ghosts had clearly wanted to attack them. With me, it was a lot like the last time. They seemed fascinated by me, desperate to get my attention. Only, with dozens of phantoms swarming, it might as well have been an attack.

I tried again to summon my walls, to block out the ghosts as I'd done long ago. The effort was excruciating. Somehow, my out-of-control emotions had caused the Shadows to take forms, and while I was calmer now, that control was harder to muster. My head continued throbbing.

Gritting my teeth, I focused every ounce of my strength into blocking out the Shadows.

"Go away," I hissed. "I don't need you anymore."

For a moment, it looked like my efforts were going to be useless. Then, slowly, one by one, the darkness began to fade. I felt the control I'd learned before gradually slip into place. Soon, there was nothing there but me, the silence, and the church-and Rouge.

I noticed her just as I collapsed to the ground. She flew out of the military building in her pajamas, face pale. Flapping her wings she softly landed by my side, then helped me sit up, legitimate fear all over her. "Amy! Are you okay?"

I felt like every scrap of energy in my brain and body had been sucked out. I couldn't move. I couldn't think.

"No," I told her.

And then I passed out.

_**~x~**_

I dreamt of Sonic again, though it wasn't related to a sweet memory of him, these dreams varied from nice ones too bad ones. The bad ones were normally inflicted by the Shadows leaking into my subconscious, similar to the previous night when I witnessed that Werehog feast through the eyes of a stranger. I'd sometimes see his face take on that fearsome Werehog image that always tormented me. Then I'd order my mind to brush such thoughts away.

I stood surrounded by tall trees that were once alive but now chilled me. In this unwieldy blackness I was used to it, although when my gaze drifted down, my hands were shaking. The trees that sheltered so many with their spreading canopy of green and provided so much were now lifeless sticks of charcoal.

The forest was one of those places which had no palpable reason to exist. It was a creaking shack created by nature to serve as a reminder that things could always be much, much worse. The unnatural, choking mist that swirled and sprawled around my feet, ankle deep, was the first thing that spoke of a strange sort of wrongness.

From my hands I looked down at my feet, which were exposed and naked, I followed the ghostly path of mist discovering that it covered the entire forest floor, and was so thick in some areas it looked like I was walking on clouds instead of the earth. A disturbing discord caught my attention and naturally my gaze trailed off into the distance, locating the source of those cries with my eyes.

There was a choir of barbaric laughter, piercing down my earshot like nails on a blackboard, the more I listened the more terrified I became. Yet, at the same time, the cries sounded gleeful. A mixture between delusion and joy, I couldn't quite pinpoint what emotion exactly. Then in rapid succession my body twisted, facing the opposite direction, and one foot lead the other. I began running.

Running from what I wasn't sure, but somehow my mind was sending signals to my muscles, telling me to run.

Get away.

Before I get caught.

Soon I began to pick up the pace and realized that I could easily find a decent tree to climb and hide from those noises which were suddenly drawing closer. Though my victory for escape was short lived when I slammed into something hard. I almost lost my footing.

I pulled my gaze upwards, and all the color from my face drained away.

It was Sonic, with blood seeping from the corners of his lips and down his chin. And on top of that, he did not look happy to see me. "Going somewhere?"

I don't know why I dreamt of that, I seemed to be having those type of horrors each night and they just kept getting worse. Once again a distributing sensation compelled my body into the awakening world, though I didn't toss the blanket and scream into the nothingness. Instead I lay in that delirium and moved in and out of consciousness, his comforting face would occasionally take on those horrible red eyes and fangs. I'd whimper, fighting hard to push that sight away. Other times, he didn't look like Sonic at all. He'd turn into someone I didn't know, an older hedgehog with dark fur and cunning eyes, blood glinting on his neck and mouth. I'd cry out for Sonic again, and eventually, his face would return, safe and wonderful.

At one point, though, the image shifted again, this time into a girl's. Clearly, she wasn't Sonic, but there was something about her green eyes that reminded me of him. She was young, eighteen years old maybe, and a hedgehog. She laid a cool cloth across my forehead, and I realized I wasn't dreaming anymore. My body ached, and I was in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room. No sign of the Werehog. Had I dreamed them, too?

"Don't try to move," the girl said with the faintest trace of a concern in her voice. "You took some bad hits."

My eyes widened as the events by the church came back to me, the ghosts I'd summoned up. It hadn't been a dream. "Where's Rouge? Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Don't worry." Something in the girl's voice told me I could believe her.

"Where am I?"

"In Mobius."

Mobius, Mobius. Somewhere, in the back of my head, that name was familiar. All of a sudden, it clicked. Long, long ago, Sonic had said it. He'd only ever mentioned his city's name once and, even though I'd tried, I had never been able to remember it. Rouge would never tell me the name. But now we were here. Sonic's home.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Sonia," she said. "I'm Sonic's little sister."


	6. Chapter 6

**_Author's_**_** notes: I feel that I have to explain a few things before you start reading this chapter.. **_

_**Firstly, in this alternative universe all locations in Sonic games and shows alike are mixed together. Humans and hedgehogs/other species live together. Kingdom Acorn exists for hedgehogs/other species, but spoilers! More about that will be revealed in the future chapters. Sonia and Bartleby are not engaged, nor are they together. Sonia is oblivious to Bartleby's attraction to her. **_

_**So, lately, I've been on a roll with this series and I'm happy with the way it's going. I hope you all enjoy reading it. Happy Halloween! **_

_**~x~**_

After I'd passed out, Rouge had apparently made some frantic calls, and someone she knew in Mobius had driven to us-risking the darkness-to rescue us and take us back where I could be treated. That was no doubt why I had vague sensations of being in a car during my delirium; it hadn't all been part of the dream.

And then, somehow, out of all the citizens in Mobius, I had been taken to Sonic's mother. That was enough to make me seriously consider that there might truly be forces greater than me at work in the universe. No one told me exactly how it happened, but I soon learned Sonia had a reputation among her peers for healing-and not even any sort of magical healing. She had medical training and was the person other hedgehogs-and even some other species-went to in this region when they wanted to avoid human attention. Still. The coincidence was eerie, and I couldn't help but think there was something going on that I didn't understand.

For now, I didn't worry too much about the hows and whys of my current situation. I was too busy staring wide-eyed at my surroundings and its inhabitants. Sonia didn't live alone. Sonic's mother and his youngest brother lived under the same roof. The family resemblance was startling. None of them looked exactly like Sonic, but in every face, I could see him. The eyes. The smile. Even the sense of humor. Seeing them fed the Sonic withdrawal I'd had since he'd disappeared-and made it worse at the same time. Whenever I looked at any of them out of my peripheral vision, I'd think I was seeing Sonic. It was like a house of mirrors, with distorted reflections of him everywhere.

Even the house gave me a thrill. There were no obvious signs that Sonic had ever lived there, but I kept thinking, this is where he grew up. He walked these floors, touched these walls... As I walked from room to room, I'd touch the walls too, trying to draw his energy from them. I'd envision him lounging on the couch, remote control in hand. I wondered if he'd slid down the banisters when he was little. The images were so real that I had to keep reminding myself that he hadn't been here in ages.

"You've made an amazing recovery," Sonia noted the next morning after I'd been brought to her. She watched with approval as I devoured a plate ultra-thin pancakes stacked and layered with butter and jam. My body always required a lot of food to keep its strength up, and I figured as long as I wasn't chewing with my mouth open or anything, I had no reason to feel bad about eating so much. "I thought you were dead when Antoine and Rouge brought you in."

"Who?" I asked between bites of food.

Rouge sat at the table with the rest of the family, hardly touching her food as usual. She seemed clearly uneasy at being surrounded by more than two people, but when I'd first come downstairs this morning, I'd definitely seen some relief in her eyes.

"Antoine D'Coolette," said Rouge. Unless I was mistaken, some of the other people at the table exchanged knowing glances. "He's a coyote. I didn't know how badly you were injured last night, so I called him. He drove down with his guardians. He was the one who brought you here."

Guardians? "Is he royal?" D'Coolette sounded rather royal, if anything, I presumed it was italian or french. But that wasn't always a sure sign of someone's lineage. And while I was beginning to trust Rouge's social networking and connections to powerful people, I couldn't imagine why a royal would go out of his way for me. Maybe he owed the Freedom Fighters a favor.

"Kind of," she said bluntly. I frowned. Royals were guardians who served the queen, except without the posh uniforms. From what I heard, the queen's army dealt with problems in the eyes of citizens. They protected not only the weak, but people who had higher authority over most. Royal Guardians undertook training to kill Werehogs, according to Rouge they were similar to the Freedom Fighters, except they were more known and attention seeking than the Freedom Fighters.

But a half-royal with more than one guardian? Sounded odd. It was clear Rouge wasn't going to say anything else on the matter-at least not for now.

I swallowed another mouthful of pancakes and turned my attention back to Sonia. "Thanks for taking me in."

Sonic's mother, Aleena, sat at the table too, accompanied by her teenage son, Manic. He appeared to be a little bit younger than me. Although the family was small, I couldn't help notice the absence of a father-figure at the table, and somehow, a voice in the back my head told me that I shouldn't investigate that further.

"Did you really kill two Werehogs all by yourself?" Manic asked me.

"Manic," chastised Aleena. "That's not a nice question to ask."

"But it's an exciting one," he ignored his mother and grinned. Manic's emerald fur was the same color as Sonic's eyes, but his smile sparkled so much like Sonic's when he was excited that it tugged at my heart. Again, I had that taunting sensation of Sonic being here but not here.

"She did," said Rouge. "I saw the bodies. Like always."

She wore that comically tormented expression of hers, and I laughed. "At least I left them where you could find them this time." My humor suddenly dimmed. "Did anyone... any other humans notice or hear?"

"I got rid of the bodies before anyone saw," she said. "If people heard anything... Well, spooky places like that are always filled with superstitions and ghost stories. They don't have factual evidence of zombies, per say, but there's always sort of this belief that the supernatural and dangerous are out there. Little do they know."

She said "ghost stories" without any change of expression. I wondered if she'd seen any of the Shadow spirits last night but finally decided she probably hadn't. She'd come outside near the tail end of the fight, and if past evidence was any indication, nobody else could see the spirits I saw-except Werehogs, as it turned out.

"You must have had some good training then," said Sonia, shifting her chair backwards so that the household cat could pounce on her lap. "You look like you should still be in school."

"I never went," I said, earning another scrutinizing look from Rouge.

Manic seemed rather fascinated, studying me with a curious gaze and feeding on every word I said. "What in the world brought you out here?"

"I... I'm looking for someone," I said after a few moments' hesitation.

I was afraid they were going to press for details, but just then, I looked down the table where Aleena sat, she looked like she was a gazillion years young despite being in her forties, though she looked fantastic for her age. Her body was thin and sleek. She barely stood five feet tall, and her manuve hair covered her head in waves and curled at the ends. But it was her eyes that truly frightened me. The rest of her might be delicate, but those dark eyes were sharp and alert and seemed to bore into my soul.

I felt something cover my hand, squeezing it gently. My gaze darted from staring at my plate, greeting Sonia's soft face. "Why you're here is your own business-although I'm sure Antoine would like to talk to you at some point." She smiled, trying to cover the gloomy atmosphere that took over the table. "You should make sure you thank him. He seemed very concerned about you."

"I'd kind of like to meet him too," I mumbled, still curious about this well-protected, half-royal who had given me a ride and seemed to make everyone uneasy. Eager to avoid more talk of why I was here, I hastily changed the subject. "I'd also love to look around Mobius. I've never been in a place like this before."

Sonia beamed. "I can definitely give you a tour-if you're sure you're feeling okay. Or if you don't have to leave right away."

She believed I was passing through, which was just as well. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was doing anymore, now that it seemed likely Sonic wasn't in the area. I glanced at Rouge questioningly.

She shrugged. "Do whatever you want. I'm not going anywhere."

As soon as I finished my food, Sonia practically dragged me out the door, as if I was the most exciting thing that had happened around here in awhile. Manic hadn't taken his eyes off me for the rest of the meal, and even though he'd never said anything else, his suspicious look clearly told me he didn't believe a word I'd said. I invited Rouge along on the outing, but she declined, choosing instead to lock herself away in a bedroom to read or make world-controlling phone calls or do whatever it was she did.

Sonia said downtown wasn't far from where they lived and was easy to walk to. The day was clear and cool, with enough sun to make being outside pretty pleasant.

Mobius was huge, possibly bigger than Central City, it was a real city with a large hedgehog population. Hardly a rural camp or farm settlement. The whole setting was astonishingly normal, and when we reached downtown, lined with small shops and restaurants, it too seemed like any other place in the world people might live. Modern and ordinary, just with a slight village feel.

"Where are all the humans?" I wondered aloud.

Sonia smiled. "Oh, they're here. We have a lot of businesses and other places that humans don't know about." While I could understand hedgehogs going unnoticed in big cities, it seemed remarkable to pull that off here. Sonia was easy to like, and in only an hour, we'd clicked as though we'd known each other forever. Maybe my connection to Sonic bound me to his family, too.

My thoughts were cut off when someone called Sonia's name. We turned to see a very presentable male mink crossing the street. He had golden hair and dark eyes, his age falling somewhere between mine and Sonia's.

He said something chatty and conversational to her. She grinned at him and then gestured to me. "Bartleby this is Amy."

"Nice to meet you," he said, smiling and performing a small bow. He gave me a quick assessment in the way guys often do, but when he turned back to Sonia, it was clear who the object of his affections was. "You should bring Amy to the debutante ball." He hesitated, turning a bit shy. "That is, if you're going..."

Sonia turned thoughtful, and I realized she was completely oblivious to his crush. "I'll be there, but..." She turned to me. "Will you still be around?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "But I'll go if I'm still here. What kind of ball is it?"

"It's held at Bartleby's house," explained Sonia. "We're just going to get together and celebrate before we go back."

"To school?" I asked stupidly. Somehow, it had never occurred to me that the hedgehogs out here would be in school.

"We're on break right now," said Bartleby. "For Easter."

"Oh." It was late April, but I had no clue what day Easter fell on this year. I'd lost track of the days. It hadn't happened yet, so their school must have their break the week before Easter. "Where is your school and what do you study?"

"I study medical science. And the school itself is about three hours away. Even more remote than here." Sonia made a face.

"Mobius is not so bad," teased Bartleby.

"Easy for you to say. You'll eventually leave and go see new and exciting places."

"Can't you?" I asked her.

She frowned, suddenly uncomfortable. "Well, I could... but that's not how we do it here-at least not in my family. Mother has some... strong opinions about men and women. Bartleby will train to be a guardian to serve the queen, but I'll stay here with my family."

Bartleby suddenly gave me a new appraisal. "Are you a guardian?"

"Ah, well." Now I was the uncomfortable one.

Sonia spoke before I could come up with anything to say. "She killed two Werehogs outside of town. By herself."

He looked impressed. "So you are a guardian."

"Well, no... I've killed before, but I'm not actually sworn." Turning around, I pulled my quills over my shoulder and lifted my shirt slightly to show them my lower back. There were tally marks decorating my entire skin, for every Werehog killing, I used the Shadows to carve tally marks to show how many I've killed. Apparently normal Royal Guardians did this too, but I had so many marks I was running out of room. They both gasped. I let my quills drop and looked back. "What?"

"You're..." Sonia bit her lip, eyes contemplative as she groped for what she wanted to say. "Unpromised."

"Unpromised?" I said. "What does that mean?"

"For you to have killed so many Werehogs and have no loyalties to a person or the guardians..." Sonia shrugged. "We call it being unpromised-it's a strange thing."

I didn't know what else to say. The term 'unpromised' was strange in itself, not only had I never heard of it but it sounded particular, like a disease that everyone tried to avoid. Admittedly, I could never imagine myself being apart of an army that killed Werehogs. I preferred to work independently, that way I didn't have to relay or worry about the welfare of comrades. It was easier I guess.

"I should let you two go," said Bartleby, his lovesick eyes back on Sonia. "But I'll see you at ball?"

"Yes," she agreed. They whispered their farewells, and then he disappeared into a bookstore.

"I must have scared him off," I said.

"No, he thinks you're interesting."

"Not as interesting as he thinks you are."

Her eyebrows rose. "What?"

"He likes you. I mean, really likes. Can't you tell?"

"Oh. We're just friends."

I could tell from her attitude that she meant it. She was completely indifferent to him, which was too bad. He was polite and nice. Letting poor Bartleby go, I brought up the guardians again. I was intrigued by the different attitudes around here. "You said you can't... but do you want to be a guardian?"

She hesitated. "I've never really considered it. I get a little bit of training at school, and I like being able to defend myself. But I'd rather use it in defense of my family than the queen. I guess it sounds..." She paused again to think of the right word. "...Racist? Sexist? But, the men become guardians, and women stay at home. Only my brother left home."

I nearly tripped. "Your brother?" I asked, keeping my voice as steady as possible.

"Sonic," she said. "He's older than me and has been away for years. I don't know whereabouts in the world he is. We just haven't seen him in a long time."

"Oh."

I felt horrible and guilty. Guilty because I was keeping the truth from Sonia and the others. Horrible because apparently no one had bothered to pass the news on to his family yet. Smiling at her own memories, she didn't notice my change in mood.

"Manic and Sonic actually looked alike as kids. I should show you pictures of him-and some recent ones, too. Sonic's pretty cute. For my brother, I mean."

I was sure seeing pictures of Sonic as a child would rip my heart out. As it was, the more Sonia began to talk about him, the sicker I felt.

She had no clue about what had happened, and even though it had been a couple of years since she'd seen him, it was clear she and the rest of the family loved him like crazy. Not that that should be a surprise. Being around them just one morning had shown me how close they all were. I knew from Sonic's stories that he was crazy about all of them, too.

"Amy? Are you okay?" Sonia was peering at me with concern, probably because I hadn't said anything in the last ten minutes.

We had circled around and were almost back at her house. Looking at her, at her open, friendly face and eyes that were so much like Sonic's, I realized I had another task ahead of me before I could go after Sonic, wherever he was. I swallowed.

"I... yeah. I think... I think I need to sit down with you and the rest of your family."

"Okay," she said, the worry still in her voice.

Inside the house, Aleena was bustling around the kitchen. I thought she was making plans for tonight's dinner, which was startling considering we'd just finished a huge breakfast. I could definitely get used to the way they ate around here. In the living room, Manic was laying across the couch skimming through a comic book.

Aleena looked up at us from doing her chores. "You two are back earlier than I expected."

"We saw the town," said Sonia. "And... Amy wants to talk to you. To all of us."

Aleena gave me a look as puzzled and concerned as Sonia's. "What's going on?"

The weight of all those eyes on me made my heart start thumping in my chest. How was I going to do this? How could I explain something I hadn't spoken about in weeks? I couldn't stand to put them-or myself-through it. When Manic lowered his comic book and peered over his shoulder at me, it made things that much worse.

"We should sit," I said.

"Amy, what's wrong?" Aleena asked again. She looked so sweet and, well... motherly, that I nearly cried. Sonic's two siblings looked equally worried, like I was someone they'd known forever. That acceptance and concern made my eyes burn even more, seeing as they'd just met me this morning.

"Well... the thing is, the reason I came here, to Mobius, was to find you guys."

That wasn't entirely true. I'd come to search for Sonic. I'd never thought much about finding his family, but now, I realized that it was a good thing I had.

"You see, Sonia was talking about Sonic earlier." Aleena's face brightened when I said her son's name. "And... I knew-um, know him. He's a good friend of mine. My best friend, actually."

"How is he?" asked Sonia. "Do you know when he's going to visit?"

_This is so hard. _I couldn't even think about answering her question, so I pushed forward with my story before I lost my courage in front of all those loving faces. As the words came out of my mouth, it was almost like someone else was saying them and I was simply watching from a distance. "A month ago... we went on a rescue mission and were attacked by Werehogs. A really bad attack... a huge group of them. We lost a lot of people."

My tongue felt thick in my throat. I couldn't breathe. "I was there that night of the attack," I reaffirmed. "And so was Sonic. He was one of the leaders in the battle... and the way he fought... he was... he was so brave... and..."

My words were breaking, but by this point, the others were catching on. Aleena gasped and murmured something along the line so "no". Sonia sat frozen, but Manic leaned toward me. Those eyes that were so like his brother's stared at me intently, as intently as Sonic would if pushing me to tell the truth, no matter how awful.

"What happened?" Manic demanded. "What happened to Sonic?"

I was losing it. Oh hell, I wasn't going to be able to tell them the truth. My emotions were growing too powerful, my memories flooding me as I fought to think about something-anything-that didn't involve that horrible battle.

Then I glanced at Aleena again, and something about her eerie, knowing expression inexplicably spurred me on. I had to do this. I turned back to the others. "After we rescued our friend, him and I tried to get out. We were outnumbered. He protected me, too, only... he..."

I stopped again and realized tears were running down my cheeks. In my mind, I was replaying that awful scene in the cave, with Sonic so close to freedom and taken by a Werehog at the last minute. Shaking that thought away, I took another deep breath. I had to finish this. I owed it to his family.

There was no gentle way to say it. "One of the Werehogs there... well, it overpowered Sonic."

Sonia buried her face in her mother's shoulder, and Aleena made no effort to hide her own tears. Manic wasn't crying, but his face had gone perfectly still. He was working hard to keep his emotions in check, just as Sonic would have. He searched my face, needing to know for sure.

"Sonic is dead," He said.

It was a statement, not a question, but he was looking to me for confirmation. I wondered if I'd given away something, some hint that there was still more to the story. Or maybe he just needed the certainty of those words. And for a moment, I considered telling them that Sonic was dead.

It would be easier on them... but somehow, I couldn't stand to lie to them-even if it was a comforting lie. Sonic would have wanted the whole truth, and his family would too.

"No," I said, and for a heartbeat, hope sprang up in everyone's faces-at least until I spoke again. "Sonic is a Werehog."


End file.
